Consumption

Consumption is a week of events that explore our relationship with food – from cultivating and harvesting to distribution and preparation. The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA will host free lectures, film screenings, workshops and youth programming from April 17-19. The event is sponsored by Artists in Context, a non-profit organization that supports the research-based, multidisciplinary, embedded practices of contemporary artists and other creative thinkers who seek to invent alternative approaches to existing societal challenges.

Special thanks to Maple’s Organics for providing the finest, handcrafted gelato. The heart of their business is to showcase the exceptional produce of Maine, working with local family farms to source the majority of their ingredients.

Support for Consumption was provided by:

Tuesday, April 17 Food Harvesting and Cultivation

YOUTH WORKSHOPS

9:00AM - 12:00PM

KITCHEN IN A CAN

Learn how to grow your own organic herbs and vegetables; take them home in your own decorated can.

FARM CAMP

Spring is here and so are the baby rabbits and chickens. Come meet and hold a furry friend, learn more about Farm Camp opportunities at Turkey Hill and Morris Farms, Maine and find out what you need to know about raising chickens in the city.

WALLPAPER PRINT WORKSHOP

Consumption of food and art collide when we create a large scale collaborative wall piece. Learn how to make a relief print and make wallpaper. participants will also take home a print of their own making.

FILM SCREENINGS

12:00PM - 3:30PM

YOU WANTED TO BE A FARMER: A DISCUSSION OF SCALE

Food for Maine’s Future is pleased to announce the release of You Wanted to Be a Farmer: A Discussion of Scale, a new documentary by No Umbrella Media and the Sap Pail profiling Dan and Judy Brown of Gravelwood Farm in Blue Hill, Maine, and the issues surrounding the lawsuit filed against them by the State of Maine and Maine Department of Agriculture. The film features “inside-the-barn” interviews with Dan and Judy as well as conversations with their farm patrons. Topics range from the importance of producing food locally to the control over food policy by corporate-influenced government regulatory agencies. You Wanted to Be a Farmer is a revealing bottom-up look at food policy that raises important questions about the need for scale-appropriate regulation for neighbors feeding neighbors.

FISHING VOICES: INSIGHT INTO THE FUTURE

Using the voices of fishermen and members of fishing communities, Fishing Voices documents eastern Maine fishing communities as they struggle to adapt and survive while preserving their proud fishing traditions. The film explores what the ocean provides to the many small towns on the coast, how to restore and sustain those ocean resources for the future, but most importantly why the culture of fishing matters so much in the first place, and why it must be preserved. Pull-Start Pictures is a Maine-based production company owned and operated by Cecily Pingree & Jason Mann. We are primarily focused on feature-length documentary film projects, but we have extensive experience in promotional and other forms of factual video production, narrative film projects, and more.

PRESENTATIONS

3:30PM - 5:00PM: LOUD. DANGEROUS. OUTRAGEOUS

Suspended from the ceiling, harvesting and preparing fruit that is out of reach, this performance by Rob Doane, with live music by Black Lodge, draws a critical eye to the structure of our food system.

6:00PM - 7:30PM: URBAN FARM FERMENTORY

Eli Cayer, a Mainer, is a Portland based entrepreneur whose position of connecting communities and encouraging creative sustainable living sits at the heart of this environment. A few months ago Cayer took on an all but abandoned single-story warehouse in the East Bayside neighborhood with the vision of reusing it as the Urban Farm Fermentory.

Wednesday, April 18 Food Preparation

YOUTH WORKSHOPS

9:00AM - 12:00PM: GREEN MONSTER LAB

It’s easy being green! Explore our juicing and smoothie lab with fresh local produce and home-grown wheat grass. Special thanks to the MECA Cafe and SODEXO for providing local produce for this event.

BUTTER IN A JAR

Learn to churn your own fresh butter in a jar.

FILM SCREENINGS

12:00PM - 3:00PM:FOOD MATTERS - YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Food Matters is a hard hitting, fast paced look at our current state of health. Despite the billions of dollars of funding and research into new so-called cures we continue to suffer from a raft of chronic ills and every day maladies.

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE

Hungry for Change exposes shocking secrets the diet, weightloss and food industry don't want you to know about; deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.

HANDS ON DEMO AND WORKSHOP

3:00PM- 5:00PM: LETTERPRESS BROADSIDE DEMO

Consume and proclaim! A participatory demonstration of how to make a Letterpress Broadside inspired by the days film screenings.

PRESENTATIONS

5:00PM - 6:15PM: RABELAIS BOOKS

Rabelais is run by a husband and wife team, Samantha Hoyt Lindgren and Don Lindgren, who have a love for food, books, wine and art. Through them you can find thousands of rare, out of print and new books about food, wine, farming and gardening. They also host events such as art exhibitions all revolving around this theme of food. In May 2012, they will open a new, larger location in Biddeford, Maine.

6:30PM - 7:30PM: SARAH KANABEY, Chief Editor of Farmer General

Co-founded by Sarah Kanabay and Chris Onstad, the Farmer General is an epicurean review that is all about food. It aims to be a publication that "celebrates all things food-specific, farm-supportive, and geographically general." The review contains everything from recipes to classic poetry remixes– and much more truly creative and difficult-to-categorize literary fare.

Join us for a unique presentation and discussion on sustainable food with John Naylor and Jarrod Spangler of Rosemont Market. John, the Proprietor of Rosemont, will discuss his unique relationship with local farms and how to support the local food movement in Maine. Jarrod Spangler, the Rosemont butcher, will discuss the lost art of butchering and demonstrate techniques on meat preparation that inspired him while working in restaurants from San Francisco to Italy.

Thursday, April 19, 2012Food Equality

YOUTH WORKSHOPS

9:00am - Noon: LOCAL FOODS IN THE PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Parents and students will be able to learn more about what local foods means for the Portland Schools. Information will be presented on school garden to cafeteria connections, from scratch recipes in the school lunch and how local foods purchases have been on the rise since 2009. Tasting samples of new menu items will also be offered. Blair Currier is the Local Foods Manager for Portland Public Schools where he oversees school garden to cafeteria connections, utilizing local products through the creation of scratch recipes and training staff in local food implementation. His prior experience includes sustainable food system development for the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, empowering students to make healthy choices for the planet and themselves.

FEED ME!?

Compost feeds the plants and the plants feed us. Composting is fun and it's also easy. Let's learn about how we make compost, view the stages of compost breakdown and how we use it to grow beautiful gardens.

GROW IT!

Learn how to grow common food items like carrots, beets, beans, potatoes and avocado using food scraps.

FILM SCREENINGS

2:00pm - 4:30pm:

END OF THE LINE

The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food.

VANISHING OF THE BEES

Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.

PRESENTATIONS

6:00pm - 7:30pm: BEEKEEPING - HOW AND WHY TO KEEP BEES IN TOP BAR BEE HIVES

Natural Beekeeping in top bar hives with bee keeper Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honeybees in Bath. Christy is one of a number of beekeeping revolutionaries who are starting to change the way humans interact with bees. Her contribution to the beekeeping world is the Gold Star Top Bar Beehive Kit, which is manufactured here locally.

7:30pm - 10:00pm: PAMFILO FILIPINO CAFE CELEBRATION

Pamfilo is an authentic Filipino café run by Klarizza Cruz, Junior Graphic Design major at Maine College of Art and her father, Ranilo Cruz. Klarizza was raised in a traditionally Filipino family from Wiscasset, Maine. Come sample traditional Filipino food, enjoy live music and be part of this one-time-only experience. You’ll enjoy sweet, salty, and sour taste from the Philippines.